Republican Karrin Taylor Robson announced she will run for Arizona governor in 2026.
Taylor Robson, a lobbyist and business owner, is the second Republican to jump into the race, following Congressman Andy Biggs, who announced his candidacy last month.
It is Taylor Robson’s second gubernatorial campaign after she lost to Kari Lake in the Republican primary in 2022. Taylor Robson has remained active in Republican politics since losing the primary and led a campaign that supported Republican legislative candidates in 2024.
This time around, Taylor Robson has a key endorsement she didn’t have three years ago.
“Are you running for governor? I think so Karrin, because if you do, you’re going to have my support, OK?” President Donald Trump told the crowd at Turning Point USA’s Americafest in Phoenix in December.
Trump had previously endorsed Lake in 2022.
In an online advertisement announcing Taylor Robson’s candidacy, the campaign leaned heavily into that endorsement, saying, “Karrin Taylor Robson is answering Trump’s call.”
That endorsement caused friction within the Arizona Republican Party. Biggs, Taylor Robson’s opponent in the upcoming primary, is a loyal Trump ally in Congress and other far-right Republicans derided the president’s decision to back Taylor Robson, though it came weeks before Biggs officially entered the race.
“Donald Trump should fire whichever executive consultant or staffer told him to endorse [Taylor Robson],” state Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) wrote on social media.
There is one other possible contender to take on incumbent Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs next year.
Republican state Treasurer Kimberly Yee said she has been asked to consider running for governor "and have been getting calls of support from around our state.''
Yee actually was briefly a candidate in 2022 before instead deciding to seek another term as treasurer. She cannot seek reelection in 2026.
But Yee already has been making the case that she would be a strong contender.
She pointed out she got 102,244 more votes in her reelection bid in 2022 than Hobbs got for governor. And Yee said she outperformed Democrat Mark Kelly by more than 68,000 votes that same year as he won the race for U.S. Senate.
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